


Reeled In

by pp_petty



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Gen, Kidnapping, M/M, Other, There's no swim team under the sea srry, Water, mermaid au, merman au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-11-05 15:33:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pp_petty/pseuds/pp_petty
Summary: Nanase Haruka is your typical merboy who lives in the ocean with his childhood friends(plus one more recent). But when conflict tears the group apart regarding dangerous humans, and the boys are captured by the enemies themselves, how will they make their great escape? Will they even have an escape?





	1. Summer Break

**Author's Note:**

> eyyyy your girl's first fanfic on this jaunt >:3
> 
> Well I love mermen au, especially in this fandom, but it never includes all my boys as merman, so here we are. Also don't worry, the rest of samezuka will make an appearance later on, as well as Gou and Kisumi ;)
> 
> Next chapter: things do not go swimmingly

  
_Knock, knock._

"Haru? Are you awake yet?"

Haru squeezed his eyes shut, rolling over on his bed and trying to ignore the sound of Makoto cracking his front door open. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the other coming over in the mornings, but he did appreciate getting to sleep in now and then, and waking up early every day could take a toll on any merperson.

"Haru-chan?" echoed up the tunnel connecting his room to the bottom floor. A few tail swishes were audible through the thick curtain that acted as a doorway cover.

"Drop the -chan." Haru droned as Makoto's arm swept the curtain aside. Makoto just sighed and swam toward his bedside.

"Were you up late catching mackerel again? I tell you every time not to go too far when it's late, even your backyard-"

"I was hungry."

"Couldn't you have waited until morning?" Haru rolled onto his back and sat up, sliding from his bed and swimming out of the room. Makoto followed, stopping his normal morning lecture to update him on the coming days' events.

"And now that summer break's begun, Nagisa wants us all to stop by the square more often, including today, so we can hang out for a few hours and shop around."

That was right, Haru thought as he swam down into the main room of his small rock home, summer break. At the beginning of each season, the merschools had 2 weeks off to enjoy themselves and the water. He didn't understand why they got so long, but he wasn't complaining; more free time meant more time with his friends and the water, something he loved more than a normal merman should.

"Here, I know you haven't been to the market in all week, so I stopped by a stall on my way here and picked up some ingredients for breakfast."

Makoto reached around his tail and pulled out a bundle of groceries that Haru hadn't noticed before, thrusting them down onto the kitchen counter. A trio of trout, tied together by their tails, along with a roll of seaweed. Noticing Haru glare at the pile of food made a Makoto chuckle.

"Sorry, but they were fresh out of mackerel today. Besides, taking one day off won't kill you. Oily food like that all the time is terrible for your health!"

"Where are we meeting the others?" Haru asked as he snatched his apron from its hook on the wall. He tied it, grabbed a trout from the bunch, and moved toward the counter to prepare it. He felt like a simple fillet meal this morning, seeing as he'd eaten all of his midnight catches whole, bones and all.

"Well," Makoto grabbed the seaweed and settled down beside Haru's spot to help wrap. "Nagisa wants to swim to the surface today to 'feel the weather', so he wants us all to meet by the drop off entrance. Speaking of which, we're supposed to be there by-" Makoto cut himself off as he glanced at the clock resting above their heads.

"Oh- five minutes! Hurry up, Haru, just eat on the way!" Haru opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Makoto roughly tugging his apron off and dragging him outside by the wrist, door left swung open and apron suspended in the middle of the kitchen.

Now that he was outside, Haru noticed it really was late in the morning; how long had he slept again? His few neighbors were all out, enjoying the sunny waters as little fry played tag around a garden an elderly merwoman was tending to. He glanced back at his cavern home as he was dragged away. It wasn't much, just a small outlet against the ocean's shelf, but it had been his home since he was a fry himself. Too bad it wasn't in a location mackerel commonly passed by.

The two swam across the block, passing by more and more merpeople as they made their way toward the square; Iwatobi Shopping Square, that was the official name, the very center of the kingdom's citizen district. Also a hotspot for seasonal marketplaces, dates, and meeting up with others.

"So, Haru." Makoto started as they swam along. "Today's the twenty first." Haru nodded, agreeing.

"It is." Makoto glanced in his direction, but kept facing forward.

"Do you know what that means?"

"Um... it means," Crap, Haru thought, he was probably forgetting some agreement he made. Another study date with Rei? Or had Rin challenged him to a race or something like that again?

" _Haru_ ," Makoto cried, "your _birthday_." Oh, that was right, just nine days until his birthday rolled around again.

"What about it?"

"What do you want to do to celebrate? I know Nagisa has been going on and on about those new dolphin racers coming to town soon."

"Maybe," Haru thought, "... maybe a day at the pools." The pools, a small place where hardly anyone went, but Haru often frequented; it was really just a few pits dug down in the flatter parts of the ground, near the edge of the caverns he lived at. But sitting in them for hours on end while enjoying the cool water was the most relaxing pass time.

Makoto just sighed, shaking his head and leading them downward into the valley below, where the square lay before them.

"We do that every year- scratch that, every _week_. Maybe you could try something else?"

"But there are nice waves there." Haru retorted as they swished through the pop-up stalls and stands of the summer market. Vendors and customers bid them hello, a few greetings as they swam through. As they passed, Haru caught a particular stand out of the corner of his eye.

The mackerel stand, fully stocked, hardly any fish bought all morning.

Haru forced back a scowl as he remembered what Makoto had claimed. Makoto noticed, giving a sheepish laugh as he predicted his thoughts.

"Sorry Haru, but really, mackerel is terrible for an everyday diet. We'll pick some up on the way back, alright? Anyway, we're here!"

And they were; at the very edge of the square, a bit northwest, was the drop off entrance. A little ways away from the drop off itself, a tiny lot of rock and sand that acted as nothing but a storage area; today, there were market tents that had yet to be set up, a few driftwood crates containing various shells, and the usual algae covered pile of boulders.

As Haru and Makoto approached, they caught sight of Rei and Nagisa, who looked up from their chatting and waved.

"Haru-chan, Mako-chan! Get over here!"

Makoto chuckled as they swam over, ruffling Nagisa's hair.

"Hello to you too! How is everything? We didn't make you guys wait too long, Rei?" Said merman just shook his head with a small smile.

"Not at all, Makoto-senpai. I actually believed you would arrive before us, seeing as Nagisa stopped at nearly every booth open." Nagisa pouted and crossed his arms.

"No fair Rei-chan, not all of them! And you were the one who wanted to see the jewelry booth!" Rei sputtered, straightening up.

"W-well, I merely glanced at their inventory! I would never be able to afford what they sell anyway."

As their kouhai went on with their antics, Haru heard the slightest sound of the water behind him ripple faster. Whirling around, he thrust his arm out just as Rin charged at him from behind, successfully whacking him in the nose.

"A-ah, Haru! That hurts, goddamn-"

"Rinrin!" Nagisa lunged forward and jumped at the redhead who had just arrived, and cradling his - now swollen - nose. Rin shoved Nagisa off, gritting his teeth and turning back to Haru.

"What was that about?!" Haru just shrugged defensively.

"You snuck up on me. I heard you."

"Yeah, no kidding," Rin complained, facing the group as a whole, "fucking took out my sense of smell too." Makoto swam forward, gingerly inspecting Rin's nose.

"Well, it doesn't look broken," he said cautiously. Rin smirked.

"Fishboy over here couldn't break a bone in my body. Anyway, here we all are." Nagisa swished up and down excitedly, his peachy tail glistening with every movement.

"Okay, let's go! I wanna go before the clouds cover the sky! C'mon Rei-chan!" Nagisa yelled as he grabbed (a protesting)Rei's wrist and darted off toward the drop off, just in the distance.

"Hey, wait!" Makoto called after them. "Make sure it's safe first! No going out if there are boats!"

Haru could distantly make out Nagisa's response of _"'Kay!"_ and Rei's of _"Nagisa slow down-"_ , but he guessed they were okay. The drop off wasn't entirely dangerous. It was just a lot of open space, right on the edge of the coastal shelf, leading to a sharp and staggering drop below. Not a problem, as long as nobody wandered too far down.

Rin sighed, rubbing at his temples.

"One of these days, Nagisa's gonna get himself in a lot of fucking trouble. He doesn't even have a concept of humans-" Makoto just smiled, patted Rin on the back, and swam after the two youngest.

Rin had always had an intense interest in the surface when he was a fry; his father was a human observer, after all. Humans were considered very dangerous, and were rarely seen out on the surface unless they were using their floatation devices, which Rin confirmed to be called 'boats'. Rin's father, and a few other select merpeople, were especially good at finding humans and studying them from a safe distance, so they were the official scientists in the human research field.

But ever since the incident, Rin's interest was never as passionate. Haru could barely remember all of the details, as they try not to bring it up, but one word always comes to mind; harpoon.

Rin's father and crew were late one day after another of their investigations, so the king had sent troops and a search party. The humans had caught on to the merpeople, and killed them with a futile weapon by the name 'harpoon'.

Rin, after becoming traumatized, was sent away to live with another merfamily in the Tasman Sea for a few years, to recover. It worked for the most part, but the first year being back, Rin was extremely reluctant to get even close to the drop off and surrounding areas. Nowadays, his initial interest in human culture was back, and he certainly learned a lot more of such from the Australian merfolk, but any inkling of being in proximity to humans or a boat had him darting back down into the water.

Because of the incident, the kingdom had placed stricter rules on the surface and merpeople in regards to humans. Yes, the mers' existence was still widely unknown to the human race, but to prevent further exposure, no merpeople were allowed to obtain human inventions unapproved by the kingdom's council. Fully grown mermaids and mermen could only visit the surface during specified daylight hours, and none were allowed out if a boat was too close to the proximity. Never, ever were the mer allowed to get even close to any sort of shore.

But Nagisa was always one of those curious mermen who wanted to learn more, not just about the sea, but the land too. He was fascinated with human objects, and always questioned Rin on their names and what they did. While Rin was mostly a stickler about letting him keep what he found, Nagisa had a drawer in his room filled with human objects; forks, spoons, bracelets, a few pairs of sunglasses, and even a shiny black object Rin called a cellphone. He remembered some sort of cheesy joke Rin had told about it being waterlogged, something about putting it in 'rice', but it flew over their heads.

But Rin was right in the long run, Haru supposed. Technically they weren't even supposed to be going to the surface. They were still merteens, in school, and only adults were permitted to the surface. But if they were ever spotted by other merpeople, they never got in trouble. Nagisa called it their one-way ticket to the surface; Ryuugazaki Rei.

Rei was a special case, one the kingdom had seen only a few times in its lifetime. He was a freshwater merman. He had lived in a freshwater river as a fry with his freshwater father and brackish mother, until they divorced. Rei and his mom moved to the ocean to get as far away as possible. Rei had trouble making friends in the ocean, and even in his home river, but Nagisa forcibly shoved his way into the Rei's life and everything changed.

But Rei hadn't been accustomed to long exposure to salt water in his life. The only way he could ever live in the ocean and not suffocate was by breathing air as well; merpeople had lungs with their gills for a reason. So, seeing as Mrs. Ryuugazaki was already a very successful nurse back at her pond, when she transferred to the ocean hospital unit, the government did anything they could to get the Ryuugazaki family to stay. Including giving her son(and his friends, by extension) permission to the surface.

Haru blinked upward, the water was getting brighter already. As anticipated, Nagisa did not stop and wait for them at the drop off, nor did he check for boats(there was one way off in the distance, a speck almost), but he charged straight for the surface. Haru could only hear Rin's angry muttering as they swam upward

Finally, after Makoto and Rin poked their heads up before him, Haru broke the surface of the water with his arms, splashing upwards until he was treading water. Looking around, he already spotted Rin scolding Nagisa with a guilty looking Rei. It was funny; even if something he was dragged into was Nagisa's fault, Rei always acted like it was his own.

"If that boat had been any closer-"

"Aww, Rin-chan! It's so far away, they probably wouldn't be able to see us if they _were_ closer-"

"Alright you two, settle down," Makoto coaxed, patting both of their shoulders. "Let's just enjoy the weather, then we can go and shop at the market."

It was nice out. Haru wasn't sure what great weather to humans was, but it wasn't too cold or 'humid', as Rin sometimes described the temperature. Though, it wasn't perfect weather. Perfect weather was when it was raining; dark clouds, water falling from the sky, but not too hard. Haru loved it. The others, not so much. But another reason to stay at the surface for as long as they could, was a reason Nagisa would accept and shove down their throats.

"Hey, look at that!" Nagisa pointed upward. In the very distance, off where the boat was parked, what looked like a very small boat floating in the clouds flew by with a long, colorful seaweed trailing behind it.

"It's a sky boat!" Rei exclaimed, looking proud of his discovery. Rin snorted, laughing out loud, trying to cover his mouth to silence himself.

"No, it's a plane. Nice try, though." Rei's face turned bright red, but Nagisa kept on going.

"What's it carrying behind it?"

"I think," Rin brushed his hair back with his hand, "it's a banner. It advertises things that humans like, so they can buy it." Haru decided not to tell them what he had thought it was, so not to face the same embarrassment that Rei had.

For about an hour, they hung out on the surfacing, floating and chatting away. Nagisa talked on and on about how his sisters started taking some shell polishing classes, and Makoto talked about how Ran had lost her first tooth the other day by swimming face first into Ren's tail.

After a while, thought, the conversation switched directions.

"Ah, Haruka-senpai!" Rei exclaimed, just realizing. "It's your birthday next week, right?"

"Wait, whaaaaat? Why didn't you remind us?" Nagisa whined, grabbing onto Haru's arm. "We have to figure out what to do."

"I want to go to-"

"We are _not_ going to the pools." Rin deadpanned. "That is was so boring last year, I was about to claw my own scales out. Seriously, who wants to sit in a fucking hole for seven hours?"

"I do." Haru snapped, a little offended. Makoto just smiled at him.

"Well, no matter what, we'll all do what you want to. But," he argued, "please consider us and make reasonable demands."

Nagisa perked up at that, wading around excitedly.

"Hey, speaking of demands, I demand it's time for lunch!" Rin grinned, nodding.

"They were selling mussel kebabs earlier, they better not have run out! I'll race you, Haru!" Haru shrugged, speeding ahead of Rin before he could start, Nagisa darting behind them. Makoto chuckled, swimming slowly after them beside Rei.

"You don't think he'll actually make us sit in the pools all day again, right?" Rei asked with a nervous laugh. Makoto laughed as well, shaking his head.

"I think he'll go easy this year. I have a good feeling about this week." Makoto stated. "As long as we all get along, things should be just fine."

 


	2. Magic Eight Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oml it's been exactly a whole month my b ;)))
> 
> I'm gonna haven to upload the next chapter way sooner tho bc it's starting to get interesting. And thanks for the kudos, love all 6 of my fans ~
> 
> Next chapter: Nagisa touches the butt(not that type, like from Finding Nemo)

  
Well, things did not turn out fine, as the group didn't get along at all for the following week.

Namely, Nagisa and Rin didn't.

The initial conflict started as the boys went back to the market for lunch that day. The mussel kebabs were there, as Rin had anticipated, and for a cheap price, Makoto bought them all one as a favor. As they were swimming around the stalls and eating, Makoto spotted Nagisa jittering around in his peripheral vision.

"What's wrong Nagisa?" he questioned. Nagisa pointed in the direction of a skinny tent made up of aging canvas with an older looking merman sitting in front of the opening.

"I saw him earlier," Nagisa explained, "he sells lucky charms, but some of them are from the surface!" Makoto looked over at the table in front of the merman. The merman, catching sight of the two observing, waved to them. On the table lay strings of pearls, bags of rocks painted with colorful dyes, and underneath it all, a large crate with its top covered by orange netting.

"Well, let's go look then!" Makoto and Nagisa swam toward the tent, the others finally noticing that they'd stopped to browse some goods, and swimming after them.

"Hey, what's the hold up? I thought we were going to the reef next." Rin complained. Nagisa ignored him, rushing up to the old vendor and slamming his hands down on the table.

"Secret stash! Can we see the secret stash please?" The vendor chuckled, moving down to pick up the crate from under.

"Ah, yes, the human stuff. Not quite popular with youths like yourself. I'm surprised!" Once the crate was set down, the old man tore off the cover and started to gingerly take out his wares, naming them as he set each one down in front of Nagisa.

"This one here would suit your tastes," the vendor explained. "A set of genuine human headphones, complete with an intact audio jack! And this here, this is a house key. It was found just yesterday morning."

Rin scoffed at the man.

"Are you kidding me? Nagisa, you really want this land junk?" Rei pinched the bridge of his nose, and Haru almost rolled his eyes. Oh, Makoto thought, here we go again.

Nagisa puffed out his chest, jabbing his finger in the water at Rin.

"This isn't junk! Actual, real life humans use these all the time! It's cool," he said pointedly, "not that you would understand."

" _Excuse_ me," Rin started, "I think I'd understand better than anyone here-"

"Okay, okay!" Makoto stood between them, breaking up the bickering. "I'm sure these things are great, Nagisa, but we have places to go right now. Didn't you want to visit the anemone park?"

"Yes," Rei piped in, "we are on a bit of a schedule, Nagisa-kun. Maybe it's best if you pursue these artifacts sometime else." Nagisa sighed, but gave in.

"Fine, but Rin-chan, you owe me." Before they could swim off, though, the man stopped them.

"Wait just a second!" he exclaimed. Nagisa turned around. "Take this, on the house. Haven't been able to find much luck selling my stock here lately but seeing how enthusiastic you are really brought my spirits back up."

The man took Nagisa's hand and placed a small ring in it. Nagisa raised it to his face to inspect the embellishment. It was similar to any other ring a merperson would normally wear, but instead of a heaping pearl in the center, a vibrant red stone shined from its setting.

"Wow," Nagisa gasped, staring in awe as Rei swam to get a closer look at the jewelry.

"It's what humans call a mood ring." the old man explained. "In reality, the merpeople who studied these things found that the stone changes color according to the temperature around itself, but the humans believe it has the ability to read one's current emotion."

"Are you sure I can have this?" Nagisa asked apprehensively. "It's way too pretty to just give away!" The vendor just waved him off, putting his other items back in their resting place.

"Oh, it's no bother young man. Just make sure to come back before I take my leave from this kingdom! My stock sells fast during my travels, after all."

Nagisa nodded, grinning widely as he haphazardly thrust the mood ring on his index finger. Makoto looked at the stone on his friend's hand where he was standing. It was very elegant looking, although some of the band was tarnished black from the salty water.

Makoto thanked the man as they took their leave for their next destination. Nagisa was happy with his newest prize, and Rin a bit irritated that he was brushed off, but they both settled down after a few minutes and they were on their way.

 

The next (almost)scuffle happened on the third day of the week, when they all planned to meet at Haru's house to hang out. Makoto was the first there, even before Haru, who had gone out to buy more snacks for the afternoon.

"Mako-chan!" Makoto turned from where he was suspended in the foyer and turned just in time for Nagisa to barrel through the front door and slam right into his tail.

"Agh- Nagisa, careful!" Makoto exclaimed, rushing to grab at a floating houseplant that had been disturbed by the rush of water, before it could crack on the wall. Nagisa smiled mischievously and held up his hand to Makoto's face.

"Look!" he shouted. "The old man was right. It changed colors this morning on my way here!" Makoto examined the ring on Nagisa's finger. Sure enough, the stone that had been a brilliant garnet since retrieved, was now a muted blue, almost matching the atmosphere of the water around them.

"That's great, Nagisa!" Makoto encouraged. "You can show the others when they get here. But right now, can you help me clean up a bit? Haru isn't great at personal hygiene when he actually comes down here." He gestured toward the living area, where fish bones were floating grotesquely above the flat boulder that acted as a table.

As they finished getting all the leftover junk into the garbage, the backdoor swung open to reveal Haru, with Rei and Rin in tow, each carrying huge satchels of groceries.

"The food stands were having a sale today," Haru explained at seeing Makoto's questioning gaze. "The seasonal foods are almost out, so I bought a bunch before they leave tomorrow."

"It's a shame the booths leave so early," Rei sighed as he set his bundle down on the cleared table. Rin stumbled behind him as he tried to retrieve some crab legs that floated away, as well as balance his pile of items . "All the speciality items they carry are nothing compared to what we have on a daily basis!"

Nagisa burst up from where he was seated on the floor.

"Rei-chan, they're leaving tomorrow!? Every stand!?"

"Um, " Rei started, confused. "Just the ones selling edible and perishable merchandise. I believe the others should still be open for a few more days."

"Why do you care so bad?" Rin asked. "Didn't think you were that much of a market shopper." Nagisa puffed air in his cheeks, frustrated.

"No, Rin, the human stuff! I wanted to look more on my own time. I'll just have to stop by on my way home."

"That's okay Nagisa," Makoto jumped in to stop the impending argument. "Just make sure to spend wisely." From behind him, Makoto could already feel Rin getting peeved, but the diversion in conversation led Nagisa to drop the subject.

 

The fourth day, Makoto called everyone, excluding Haru, out to the drop off to discuss surprise birthday plans. The lighting was pleasant at the drop off during sunset, but they couldn't stay for too long; the darker it got, the more risk of danger.

"I say we should get Haruka-senpai something to draw with," Rei said. "He always draws in his free time, but whenever I initiate conversation on the matter, he brushes it off and says it's not a talent he wants. Who doesn't want such a beautiful ability?"

"That's a good idea," Makoto agreed, exchanging a smile with his kouhai. "Does anyone know some good places to buy art supplies? I know of an evening market near the tide pools my parents shop at that carries dyes and the likes." Rin perked up.

"Oh yeah, Gou goes there sometimes with her friend Chigusa. She said they have shell stamps and paint brushes behind the counter if you ask. I don't know if they're very affordable though."

"Yeah, well, whatever!" Nagisa piped up. "Haru-chan deserve the best for his birthday, so we'll cover the costs no matter what!"

"And just how are you going to contribute to the funds, Nagisa-kun, considering you went on a shopping spree the other night?" Rei questioned. "Concluding from your frequent spending habits, you should only have about 3 sand dollars to spare."

Nagisa chuckled sheepishly, and glanced down at his tail fins.

"Uh, actually, I only have 1 sand dollar left...?"

"What," Makoto started, "Nagisa, I thought I reminded you to spend wisely! Budgeting is an important thing when your older, and if you don't learn now-"

"I know, Mako-chan, I know!" Nagisa argued. "But this was a special case, I _had_ to buy it."

"Oh yeah?" Rin swam forward and crossed his arms. "What was so important that you spent all of this week's lunch money on it?"

Nagisa grinned, and spun around to detach a small pouch from his tail belt.

"I was going to show you guys later, when Haru was around, but it's too cool to hide anymore!" Nagisa dug down into the pouch, and took out a shiny black orb. He tossed it up in the water, its light density causing it to rapidly float upward before Makoto grabbed it.

"Uh, what exactly is that?" Rei asked, studying the object in Makoto's hand.

"Well, it's another human item, from the same guy who gave me the mood ring-"

"Nagisa-" Rin started, but was cut off by the blonde, who was now speeding up and excitedly retelling the tale to them.

"And he said he was leaving the tomorrow, which is actually today because that was yesterday, and he was almost sold out, but he held onto something for me because he knew I was a 'special customer', and he gave me this for half price and said it was called a 'magic ate ball'-"

Makoto rolled the ball around in his hands and Nagisa rambled on, and noticed a little window in one of the sphere's faces.

"-and apparently it can tell you the truth and the future! All you do is ask a question like, 'is Rei scared of the dark?', and then you shake it-"

" _Nagisa-kun-_ " Rei protested, but Nagisa reached over him to grab the ball out of Makoto's hands, and shook it hard. They all waited and watched, amazed as the screen inside the ball started spinning wildly. Finally, the spinning slowed down, and stopped. Makoto noticed that a new little message had appeared, different from the one displayed earlier, and read it out loud.

"'Signs point to yes'. Wait, Nagisa, does this actually tell the truth? Because the man also said that your ring doesn't actually tell one's mood." Nagisa laughed, setting the orb back down into Makoto's hands.

"Yeah, he said that there hasn't been enough research done, but it's almost always truthful when used! But he said the context of the question is also important-"

Rin snatched the magic ball from Makoto's hand, glaring at it, then showing it to Nagisa.

"First of all, Nagisa, this is a 'magic _eight_ ball', not 'magic _ate_ ball'. There's even a number eight on the side if you had looked at the thing enough." Makoto also looked, and noticed for the first time that, yes, there was a white circle on the opposite side of the screen with a number eight printed on.

"Second of all, this thing is a piece of crap and that man is telling you a load of _bullshit_ -"

"Whoa, whoa," Makoto took the magic eight ball back from Rin, and tossed it to a now quiet Nagisa. "I'm sure it's all fun and games, no need to get worked up over nothing."

"Yeah," Nagisa piped in, "you just have a human-hating stick up your ass!" Rei tried to grab at Rin, but it was too late, Rin darted forward, tugging at the eight ball.

"Are you kidding me?! Nagisa, listen, this isn't even magic, humans don't _have_ magic. We don't even have magic! Only sea witches do. And in top of that, this man who sells human shit to you doesn't even have a license to be selling this!" Nagisa tugged back at the ball, and they began fighting over it while they argued.

"Oh yeah, because Rin-chan is the great and powerful mer who knows all about licenses and selling things-"

"Even if I didn't, have you even glanced at the laws regarding human items around here? Magic eight balls aren't allowed! They break too easily and have dangerous fluids in them that could hurt someone if they floated around in the water! Also, this is made of the shittiest plastic I've seen in my life, and he overcharged you-"

Makoto lunged at them, ripping the magic eight ball from both of them and getting between them until they stopped yelling.

"Hey, that's enough! We didn't come out here to argue about human objects, we came out here to plan a nice party for Haru." Makoto turned to Rin.

"Rin, we understand that you are cautious about human inventions, and you're being a great friend by being protective over Nagisa's wellbeing, but he didn't know of the dangers, so don't beat on him so harshly." Makoto turned to Nagisa, handing him the eight ball.

"Nagisa, we know you love human things, and they're very interesting and fun to mess around with, even if they aren't what they're described to be. But you should read the laws over them, like Rin said, so nothing bad happens to you. And stop spending your money so quickly before researching fair prices!"

Everyone was silent, even Rei, and glanced around guiltily. Makoto just looked at them all, sighed, and continued,

"Now, we're all going to plan Haru's birthday surprise from this point forward with interruptions. And Nagisa will either confiscate the eight ball when we are finished, or otherwise keep it locked away at home."

This human vendetta was starting to become such headache, not even Rei noticed the boat from a few days ago had inched closer and closer to the drop off.

 

Makoto woke up the day of Haru's birthday feeling refreshed and ready to go. Yes, it was way earlier than he normally awoke, but he had been going to sleep earlier and earlier these remaining few days in preparation of getting up early to put the party in order.

He grabbed a small clam breakfast, grabbed his bag of goodies, and waved a quiet goodbye to his mom, who had woken up to see him off, before swimming out of the house.

It was still early enough that it was a bit dark out, but a few merpeople were swimming out and about so Makoto didn't look suspicious at all as he made the trek over from his humble coral abode down to the Matsuoka cave.

Knocking on the door, Makoto made sure to swim silently as the door opened to reveal a yawning Gou, still in a pajama shirt.

"Oh, hey Makoto. Hold on, Rin's still getting up, he's so slow. Mom's out-" she cut herself off with a loud yawn, stretching her arms over her head. "Sorry, mom's out to get groceries for this week, and she promises she'll stay busy in town so she doesn't interrupt."

"Oh, that's no problem! I don't want to kick her out of her own house for the day." Makoto said as he swam into the living room, Gou closing and locking the door behind him. The yellow lantern hanging from the ceiling lit up the area spectacularly, and Makoto could see some of Rin's (hopefully not dirty)laundry haphazardly shoved underneath of the couch. He smirked, imagining Rin last night, frantically shoving his usual mess in appropriate hiding places.

Speaking of Rin, he was currently swimming up from his basement bedroom with his bangs tied back and a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. He gave a tired glance at Makoto, pathetically raised his arm in the air to wave, and sluggishly waded into the kitchen.

"If you haven't had breakfast yet," Rin sleepily drawled out, "I'll be making extra flounder. Grilled. 's good." Makoto chuckled.

"No, that's alright. But do you need help making it? You're still half asleep, don't burn yourself." Rin lazily waved him off, bending down to get knives from a drawer.

"Whatever, Mom. You brought the party supplies, right? We can set everything up on the table. Nagisa's supposed to bring refreshments with the present, but Rei had his doubts, so he should also be bringing food 'n stuff."

Makoto unfastened the bag from his hip, and placed everything out on the floor to unwrap and set up. Plates, napkins, forks, knives, even a few streamers; Haru always insisted he hated extravagant parties, but it's not like Makoto brought ballons or a banner. Besides, he couldn't stand a plain event with no decorations.

After about half an hour, there was another knock on the door. Makoto, who has just finished putting everything in its respective place, got up to answer. Outside stood Rei and Nagisa, who would have expectantly been awake and alert. The reality of the situation was a frustrated Rei with bags under his eyes, trying to balance both of his and Nagisa's stuff while dragging a literally sleeping Nagisa by the wrist behind him.

Makoto laughed, ruffling Nagisa's hair to wake him up a little, and took some things off of Rei, leading them inside.

"And when I got to his house, because I anticipated he would forget and sleep in, I had to wake him up by knocking on his window! And he didn't!" Rei complained to Rin, who was more awake now, eating breakfast. "So finally, we're on our way here, but he hasn't said a word since we left, so I turn around and he'd stopped about a block behind me to fall back asleep-" Rei choked on his words as Rin shoved a forkful of fish into his mouth, laughing at having effectively silencing him.

"Aw man, Rei, you're too funny when you're mad, but you can never shut up either. Just take a break on the couch or something, I'll bug Nagisa to get your stuff set up too." Hearing his name, Nagisa swam over to them.

"Why are we up so early Rinrin... Haru doesn't even wake up for an hour, and that's when Mako-chan goes to get him."

"That's because we haven't really thrown Haru a proper birthday party since middle school," Makoto explained. "Seeing as it's our last year before college, it may be his only chance to get one. And besides, we'll be swimming around town and doing things all day before we come back here for cake, so there would be no time to set up anyways." Nagisa, too tired to argue, just accepted the excuse, and went back to the couch, where he promptly fell asleep again. Rei sighed, rubbing his temples, and Rin smirked as he patted his shoulder. Makoto couldn't help but smile at the scene; it was good they weren't arguing anymore, at least.

 

The day had been so fun, it had all whizzed past in a second. They all collectively went to Haru's to wake him up, going a bit later than normal to give the birthday boy some extra time to sleep in. Then, they hit the market to shop and had lunch at Haru's favorite fried fish shack(Makoto and Rei never allowed them to frequent the place, as it was home to high cholesterol, sodium, and excessive use of oil).

After lunch came everyone's favorite part of the day, everyone meaning only Haru's; the pools. Luckily, Haru allowed them to leave after two hours instead of the normal three, and they were off to end the day with cake and presents at Rin's house. Haru glared at the streamers Makoto placed up, but otherwise, went along with everything.

Eventually, the cake was cut into and mostly gone, with the present unwrapped beside it. And while what Rei had mentioned about Haru being shy about his art skills was true, Makoto couldn't help but notice the excited glint in his eyes when he opened up the new kit of pencils and inks they had collectively bought.

Now they all lay around the room, Rin lounging on the couch with Nagisa facing him from the other end, fins tangling together. Haru sat with his tail tucked under his chin at the base of the couch. Rei and Makoto lay at his feet, Makoto on his back with his hands behind his head and Rei on his stomach, playing with the scraps of wrapping paper left over.

"So, now that this is all over, we still have a week of break left!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Five days," Rei corrected him, "a week consists of seven. But maybe you should go back early to learn basic subtraction skills." Nagisa rolled his eyes, swishing his tail out to bat at Rei's head.

"Either way, we need something fun to do. Oh, Haru, I never showed you my magic eight ball!"

"Your what?" Haru deadpanned. Rin flicked Nagisa with his tail, sitting up straighter on the couch.

"Idiot, we are not swimming all the way to your house to play with a ball of plastic garbage." Nagisa flicked his tail back, and pulled out the eight ball from his belt.

"That's okay, silly, I brought it with me!" Haru turned around and looked in interest, while the others sat straight up and stared.

"Nagisa," Makoto started to lecture, "what did we say about leaving that at your house? It's dangerous!" Nagisa pouted, shining puppy eyes at his senpai.

"But Mako-chan, Haru didn't get to see it! And I thought, even if it's not really magical, it would be fun to play at a party. Here, I can even show Haru how it works-" Rin jabbed his tail into Nagisa's stomach, causing the eight ball to fly forward for Rin to snatch away.

"Seriously Nagisa? Haru comes over to your house, like, twice a month, you couldn't wait for him then!? This thing is so fucking cheap, if it breaks in _my_ house-" Nagisa reached forward to tug the eight ball back.

"Well, it won't break if you just let go and give it back to me-"

"Yeah, sure, so you can shake it around the room and throw it right at the wall?! My mom will kill me! That is, if that shit doesn't kill me first!"

Makoto reached over to try and stop the tug of war they were having, but it was no use.

"Give it _back_ Rin-chan! _Give_ _it_ _back-_ "

"Why didn't you just throw this out like we told you!? There's literally no use for it!"

"Rin, Nagisa, _stop-_ "

" _Nagisa_ - _kun_ -"

"Wait, what-"

But before they could keep tugging, there was a loud click, a crack, and the eight ball cracked open, bits and pieces flying into the air.

They were all silent for a moment, before Rin was hastily grabbing the debris, and Makoto grabbed what looked like the very center of the eight ball, a clear cylinder full of liquid. Rei looked over his should.

"It doesn't look broken, Makoto-senpai," he stated. "But be careful, there might be a crack. Don't let any out." Haru and Nagisa helped Rin get the rest of the floating eight ball pieces Iowa of the air, before Nagisa punched Rin in the arm.

"Look what you did! You could've just listened to me for once and this wouldn't have happened!"

"Nagisa, don't-"

"Oh, I do a lot of listening to your crap nowadays!" Rin pushed Nagisa back. "You're the one who doesn't listen! Makoto clearly told you to get rid of that thing. That could've burst in your face! If that fluid had started to leak out in here-"

"Oh, please, Rin-chan, it's probably just water with food dye! It's not toxic! Everyone's just being over dramatic."

"No, no!" Makoto pulled them away from each other. "We are not starting this again." But Rin ignored him.

"Oh, so the friends who are looking out for you are being over dramatic? The government that bans these sort of things for being _poisonous_ are overdramatic!?"

"Whatever!" Nagisa yelled, spinning around toward the door. "I'm leaving! And I'm not gonna come out until break's over!"

"Now who's being over dramatic." Rin scoffed, swimming to the trash can to throw the remnant of eight ball away. Makoto swam to try and stop Nagisa from leaving, but he was already darting away. Rei and Haru stood awkwardly by the table. Haru coughed.

"Um. What's an eight ball?"

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Sunrise

 Even though it was late, it was muggy enough that night to have all the small windows in the bedroom open. But, Nagisa groaned as he flopped onto the other side of his spongey mattress, if those fucking sea snails didn't stop _crawling in-_

Nagisa sighed as he hugged his pillow tighter to his chest, nestling further down into the swirling comforter. He was still in a bad mood from earlier- no, he was pissed. Everyone thought they knew what was best for him, were so controlling, didn't understand that he knew more about these things than others.

Yes, he knew the risks of collecting human stuff.

Did he ever break anything? Even on accident? No. Has he ever gotten caught and punished for holding restricted items? Definitely not. The thing was, all the merpeople around him, even his closest friends, didn't understand how laughably _safe_ human objects were because they didn't have human objects themselves. Denying the truth because they were all a bunch of scaredy eels!

Everywhere he went, harboring his love for found objects, someone would always ask, 'Nagisa, why do you collect these things? Do they even have value?' or 'Isn't that super dangerous? Put that away before you hurt someone!". He even got in trouble one time back in fry school for bringing something called a 'butterfly net' in for show-and-tell. It was harmless, and even then, his peers and teacher were scared for nothing!

Rolling onto his stomach, Nagisa threw the pillow across the room with all the force he could muster, aiming to the window on the wall perpendicular to him. The sea snails crawling on the edges slugged away as the soft cushion made contact with the stone rim.

As Nagisa watched the pillow float to the floor, he glared out to the view below. The streets were eerily empty, lanterns floating listlessly from where they were chained to the side of the road. It wasn't night, but very early morning; at least, early for Nagisa. A sparse few mer were normally seen taking swims in the cooler morning waters, but even a mailfish was out early today, flicking the morning papers out with its fins. A nice morning, though it could be better if Rin-chan wasn't such a _bitchy_ -

"Oh!" Nagisa covered his hand with his mouth to silence his outburst. With terrible(but maybe perfect) timing, he'd just remembered something he read out of a book in the school library before break, a rough translation of some Danish mermyth about a mermaid who went to the surface; early morning, the "sky", as it was called, was supposed to be more colorful than ever.

Yes, Nagisa had consulted the human-phobe himself about this when they were on better terms, but said merman brushed it off like it was obvious.

_"Rin-chan, I wanna see a 'sunrise'! At the drop off, tomorrow morning, let's do it!"_

_"So what? It's the same exact thing as sunset, just earlier and more dangerous because, you know, there's this thing called legal visiting hours-"_

_"Aww, Rinrin, you're no fun-"_

A good morning, the right timing, Nagisa wasn't even tired anymore- this would be the perfect way to prove that anything remotely "human" wasn't dangerous at all. He'd go to see the sunrise and that would show Rin for sure!

Nagisa leapt out of bed- well, quietly shot up, more like it, as to not wake any of his sisters. He grabbed his mood ring, shoved it on his finger, opened the window a bit more, and shimmied out slowly as to not cause a disruption.

As Nagisa hurriedly swam down the street, a realization suddenly hit him. Instead of going straight to the dropoff, he took a right turn and headed to the Ryuugazaki household. Rin, even Haru and Makoto, wouldn't believe Nagisa had really seen a sunrise unless he had a trustworthy witness to experience it with him and how super safe and _not dangerous_ it was.

 

" _Rei-chan_." Nagisa whispered as loud as he could, shaking the netting on Rei's bedside window. Luckily, it seemed Rei had a few charms of some sort on his curtain, as he heard a soft jangling sound and, eventually, the sound of bedsheets ruffling as they were pushed aside.

Nagisa smiled as innocently as he could when a confused and still-sleeping Rei drew back one of the curtains. He stared at Nagisa through squinted eyes for what seemed like ages until he registered who was in front of him.

"Wha- Nagisa-kun, what are you _doing_ here? You know... everyone was worried when you, you left..." he muttered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah, sure Rei-chan, and by everyone you mean Mako-chan. Listen, you're coming with me to the drop off right now, there's something we've gotta see-"

" _Nagisa_ ," Rei cut him off, opening the window fully and kneeling until he was face to face with Nagisa. "We can't do that right now, it's too early."

At that, Rei finally snapped out of his tired daze and realized what was actually going on.

"Wait, why are you even out here right now?! Nagisa-kun, if you're parents wake up, they'll be so worried- did you use the window again?! If you don't go home this instant... and the drop off, no way, its way too dangerous to be swimming near there right now!"

"Ah, Rei-chan, just because there's a curfew doesn't mean it's 'dangerous'," Nagisa mocked, leaning an elbow on the edge of the window sill to flick Rei's cheek, "I wanna go to the dropoff to see the sunrise. It's supposed to be even prettier than a sunset!"

Rei sighed, very dramatically, in Nagisa's opinion, and rubbed his temples with both index fingers.

"Nagisa-kun, I'm sure the sunrise is very nice, but Rin-san has confirmed it's just a sunset at different hours, and we have had the chance to glimpse at those before, so I'd say you're well off imagining it for now."

Nagisa pouted, but Rei continued.

"If this is about rebelling against Rin-san somehow, I respect your feelings toward the conflict, but acting rashly isn't a smart decision. Wait twenty four hours until you can think rationally again, and just apologize. I'm sure Rin-san will apologize as well tomorrow. Additionally, apologize alongside him to Haruka-senpai for ruining his birthday party! He was disappointed, he didn't show it, but I could just tell-"

"Hey! Stop being paranoid, know-it-all!" Nagisa piped in, lightly punching at him. "Sometimes I wanna sneak out and do things because I enjoy it, and do it for _me_ , not revenge against some prissy jerk. I've been wanting to see the sunrise for a while now, you know."

Rei just stiffened, grabbing at the curtains to start closing them.

"Rei-chan, wait! Sunrise is supposed to be one of the most peaceful times at the surface. And magical! Don't you wanna see real life magic?"

The curtains were almost closed, swishing cold water back at his face.

"Rei-chan-"

 _Swish_.

"- the sunrise is really beautiful, you know."

 

Nagisa smiled giddily as he pulled Rei by the wrist through the closed plaza. He couldn't tell if he was shivering from the chills of the water or anticipation. Behind him, all he could hear was the ocean's current and Rei's anxious grumbling, no other mer in sight.

"- you're listening to me, right, Nagisa-kun? Just a glance! Then we are swimming right back to my place, you'll sleep in my room, and we'll go with the guise of having an impromptu sleepover-"

"Rei-chan, quiet! It's exciting, I know, but we'll figure out the details later, okay?"

They neared the empty lot of the drop off entrance, and Nagisa hurried a bit more, restless now that they had reached their final destination. Before they even approached the edge of the coastal shelf, Nagisa could see the warm glow cast near the surface, rays of light somehow breaking through the waves and lighting the area to have an almost whimsical feeling.

"Nagisa-kun, wait-" Rei finally released himself from Nagisa's grip and pulled him backwards. Before the excited merboy could protest, Rei pointed toward the surface. Only then did Nagisa realize that there was something in their way.

The boat from days earlier was gently bobbing in the waves, its lazy, laid back appearance contradicting the danger it really brought to their visit.

The peaceful silence immediately turned into something sour as Nagisa realized how close it was to the drop off itself.

He gave a sheepish laugh, swatting at Rei's forearm.

"Yeah, well, a little human isn't going to ruin the sunrise for us. We've come this far without getting caught, we can't stop here!"

"Nagisa, its _really_ close..."

"Y-yeah, well, he's probably just enjoying the sunrise too! Come on, we'll just poke our heads up and dip right back down, okay?"

Nagisa grabbed onto Rei's wrist again, much more loosely this time, and apprehensively started floating up to the surface. The whole time, he kept a sideways glance on the boat, noting if it moved any closer or farther.

Human things weren't evil, Nagisa's mother would always remind him, the humans were.

Finally, they reached just inches under the surface, and Nagisa looked to Rei, nodding. Slowly, they both poked just their heads and shoulders out, trying to stay as small as possible to the boat. But as Nagisa opened his eyes, he couldn't help but gasp and perk up a bit higher when he saw the sky.

It was nothing like a sunset at all; the sunrise was much lighter, with the only really saturated hues of the sky near the horizon line. Above that, pink was smeared in all the right places between the oranges and yellows. A sparse few clouds were stretched across it all, like, like- he didn't know, it was just _pretty_.

"Whoa..." Nagisa heard Rei breathily speaking, "it's glowing."

Nagisa faced him, and couldn't help laughing when Rei never broke his eye contact from the colors above.

But before he could answer back, something flew onto his tail, digging its fingers into the scales and pulling down roughly.

" _Agh_ -" Nagisa sputtered as his vision was filled with bubbles, but he knew who it was before he even had to look.

"Nagisa, for the love of _fuck_ -" Rin kept his grip strong, dragging them farther and farther below the surface, his other arm wrapped around Rei just as tightly.

" _Ow_ , Rin-chan, let go-" he protested, thrashing around to try and slip loose.

But they were already at the edge of the drop off cliff, and Rin threw them both downward and away from him. Nagisa hit the sand roughly on his tailbone, glancing over his shoulder to see Makoto and Haru swimming to them as fast as he'd ever seen.

"Wha- Mako-chan, Haru-chan? What are you guys doing here?" Rei blinked, just as surprised, but before Nagisa could continue, Rin roughly grabbed his face by the jaw and spun the blonde to face him.

"What are you doing out here?! Are you suicidal now?! Damn, I'm sorry I broke your shit but-"

"Stop!" Nagisa cut him off, darting back upward. "Go away, you aren't even supposed to be here!"

"Nagisa," Makoto grabbed onto his tail fin before he could swim any higher, "Nagisa, we just want to talk, okay? Why are you here before hours?!"

"Rei too," Haru added on, helping the kouhai in question off of the ground.

"H-Haruka-senpai! We were just- that is, we didn't plan this, but-"

"We came to see the sunset!" Nagisa blurted out, swishing his fin away from Makoto's hand. "Because it's pretty and I want to prove that human things aren't dangerous-"

"Human 'things'?! Nagisa, this is about actual _humans_ right now!" Rin said, gesturing to the boat.

"Well, why are _you_ out here then, idiot?!" Nagisa retorted, which just earned a scoff from the redhead.

"So _you_ don't get your ass killed, that's why!" Makoto swam over to Rin, grabbing his shoulder.

"Hey, calm down. Nagisa, we're here because I decided to spend that night at Rin's house, since my own house is too far. Haru and Rei swam home together. But Rin kept feeling guilty about your eight ball-"

"I didn't-" Rin tried to interject, but Makoto squeezed harder to silence him.

"He felt so guilty, we decided to come to your place and apologize. We knew it was late, but it was late enough to know you should have been home. Rin was going to sneak up to your window rather than wake your whole family, but it turns out we had to anyway when you weren't there."

"Your sisters are worried," Haru continued. "they're calling all the people they know now. Rei, your house was the first place they checked, but you were missing too, so now your mom's worried about you. Makoto and Rin came to me and asked for help. This was the place I thought you would be."

Nagisa suddenly felt guilty, looking down at his tail, but then remembered why he was there in the first place, getting mad again.

"Yeah, well, I'm fine, so they can stop being worried." He started swimming upward again, gaze concentrated only his destination. "We just went up a little so the human wouldn't see us-"

"Nagisa, stop-"

"-so that goes to show humans aren't predators who are constantly trying to _kill_ , Rinrin."

"No, Nagisa, seriously," Rin hissed, reaching a hand out to him. "Get back here, _now_ -"

"No! I'm not gonna listen to you anymore, Rin! Even if you think I never listen, I always do, and you're so annoying! Just let me show you! The sunrise is so pretty, look-"

Nagisa finally spun back to look at the others, and was confused to see Rin slowly swimming to him, the others backing up with wide eyes, before something wrapped around his tail once more.

It wasn't Rin this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oml sorry this chapter is way shorter than the others, wanted to end on a bit of a cliff hanger ;D
> 
> Also I've noticed that there's a fuck ton of typos in the other chapters, even though I look over everything at least twice before posting. There r probs some typos in THIS chapter I haven't even noticed, but imma fix them all, so don't worry my dudes 
> 
> next chapter: aww shit humans


	4. Samezuka Private Marine Rehabilitation Center

  
The sunrise was really bright today, Nitori absently thought, as the boat shifted side to side in the breeze. He was out early this morning to take some more pictures of fish, but the great view was a plus.

All summer, he'd been driving out on the waves every chance he got; before he went to school, as soon as he got home, when he should've instead been sleeping, etcetera. But it was all worth it; his photograph collection was getting bigger and better by the day. It might seem an insignificant activity to some, when he could really try improving his grades or making more friends-

"Nitori, don't lean so far out."

"A-ah, sorry! Sorry-"

Sousuke grabbed onto Nitori's shirt collar and lightly drew him away from the rail of the boat. Normally, the older teen would rather just get school over with and go straight to the rescue center, but then he'd noticed Nitori struggling with operating the boat by himself. Nowadays he joined the younger on his morning escapades, though, Nitori noted, he didn't look interested at all. Maybe Sousuke _could_ be super into fish photography; he just had a resting annoyed face.

Sousuke went back to the wheel, sliding down into the leather seat and crossing his arms.

Nitori turned back to the water, mindful of the ledge this time, and snapped his camera up to the horizon line. He took a few shots and looked back down at the digital screen. Beautiful.

"You ready to head back?" Sousuke asked. Nitori jumped at his voice, but kept himself and his camera steady.

"Oh- yeah, I'm good! I mean, if you're ready. Let's go back!"

Sousuke grabbed the wheel, turning the keys planted in the ignition, and the motor roared to life. As they slowly started turning, Nitori looked out at the water. He just wished he could stay on the water forever; he hated his everyday life.

His parents only ever talked to him in the morning at breakfast and to say goodnight. Everyone at school took advantage of his kindness, as he was very naive. The only person who had ever taken him somewhat seriously in his whole life was his kouhai, Momotarou, which then led to him meeting the others, and eventually meeting the ocean itself.

He'd never seen a better thing than the ocean.

The boat slowly churned through the waves as they maneuvered around the waters. Sousuke was never a fast driver, unlike Seijuro or Momo; actually, Nitori was pretty sure he wouldn't survive driving with Momo again. Nitori sat on the cushioned bench of the bow as he looked out sea. The waves were glistening in the morning light.

Especially that one spot over there...

"Sousuke, stop the boat!" Sousuke slammed in the brakes, twisting the keys out of ignition and peering over to see what was wrong.

"Everything okay? Did you drop your camera again?"

"N-no, sorry to worry you. But, um, over there! Look at those fish!"

Sousuke stood up with a grunt and strides over to where Nitori was planted. Nitori looked out again as well.

The fish were just _huge_ \- the strangest things, thought, was how they hovered under the surface of the water almost vertically. The coloring was strange too; all tan on top, but one had a slightly more orange tail, while the other's tail was much darker, even than the water itself.

"That's weird," Sousuke commented. "Take a pic and we'll show it to Seijuro when we get back." Nitori saluted, fumble to get his camera back in focus. He aimed straight at the fish, twisting the lens to get even closer.

Just as he was about to snap the picture, one of the fish poked its head out of the water, arms raised over it shoulders-

Wait, arms? Shoulders?!

"S-sou-sousuke," Nitori tugged at the taller's sleeve. But Sousuke had already noticed, walking backward toward the cabin.

"Keep an eye on them. Take some pictures."

Nitori did as he was told; who would argue in a situation like this?! Was he hallucinating? Sousuke saw it too, though.

Nobody in their right would be casually swimming in the ocean. But fish didn't have human parts. That means- it would make them...

Right before Nitori could push the button of his camera, the big fish(?) dove down. He lunged onto the rail, staring down as far as he could. No, they were still there. But there were more now!

Sousuke returned, holding their biggest nets in one arm and a metal rod in the other.

"W-what are we gonna do? Do we tell Seijuro?!" Sousuke handed Nitori a net, and walk to port side, where the rail of the boat ended.

"He won't believe us unless we bring it to him."

 

 

Seijuro spun around in the office chair for the fifth time, puffing over the landline as he waited for assistance. Of course, when he was in dire need of service, he was always put on hold. Typical.

At least the rescue center was nice today; in the summer heat, the coolness that came with the plentiful aquariums was much appreciated, especially with the spray fan on blast in the lobby, where he was currently seated at the front desk.

Normally his dad or Nitori would be the one giving visitors guidance, but he didn't mind much, seeing as they hardly got any at all. But he'd been put up to the job more and more frequently, lately. His father, founder of Mikoshiba Private Marine Rehabilitation Center, was making quite the buddy with the public aquarium down the road. In fact, he and Mr. Samezuka himself were having breakfast together as Seijuro sat here, waiting for a call that shouldn't have taken more than five minutes.

Sometimes he wished his dad wasn't try to make good with the others in his business-

"Sei!"

Seijuro looked up, shushing Momo with a finger over his lips.

"Important call, shut up!" Momo just laughed, shutting the staff only door with a foot as he sloshed water out of a pail.

"Hey, I just finished mopping the floors, but the sting rays made a frickin' mess again! I hate fish!" He laughed again, trudging down the hall with his cleaning supplies. Seijuro just rolled his eyes, smiling.

The receiver on the other end clicked as the hold music shut off. About time.

"Samezuka Pizza, how can we help you?"

"Do you guys deliver in the mornings? ....Yes? Okay, could I get..." as Seijuro listed off his order, he heard a buzz from the walkie talkie snapped on his belt. Probably Momo calling to start complaining again, or just hear another person's voice. Man, the boy got lonely when he didn't have attention-

_Buzz, buzz-_

"One small pineapple, with the chili flakes, please-"

_Buzz, crackle-_

"A large cheese- ah, and is there a two for one discount on breadsticks today?"

_Crackle- Seijuro. Pick up, Seijuro-_

"Actually, hold that thought? Thank you," Sei set the phone flat on the desk and picked up his radio.

"Yes, Sousuke? Is the boat having engine troubles again? Or did Nitori fall like the other day? No wait, it was his camera this time, I'm calling it-"

_"Seijuro, we have a big delivery."_

"Oh, I didn't know you brought the rescue equipment with you," Sei said. "No worries, though! It must have come in use then."

_"They weren't injured."_

"Oh, more then one? Wait, but why did you take them? Sousuke, you know to leave perfectly fine wildlife alone-"

 _"Mermaids."_ Seijuro choked on his spit, coughing. He heard the woman on the other line ask something. He fumbled to pick up the receiver.

"Yes, sorry- no, everything's alright... 45 minutes? Okay, perfect. Thanks!" He hung up and answer Sousuke.

"Mermaids? Sousuke, I didn't know you made jokes! But, eh... they need a little work, no offense."

 _"I'm not joking. We found some. Five. We managed to take four."_ Seijuro laughed, but it came out almost like a cough.

"Sousuke, what? I'm not understanding. You caught four big fish-"

_"Mermaids. Er, mermen. Probably. Merboys. I'm not sure. They put up a fight, and two were pretty aggressive, but Momo accidentally left some tranqs in the dashboard, so we used those."_

"Whoa, okay, what-"

_"Just wait for us to get back. We're on our way now. Out."_

Seijuro slowly set the walkie talkie down, running a hand through his hair. What? If Momo had told him he found mermaids- rather, mermen, he would have laughed and given him a noogie. If Nitori had told him, he would have played along.

But Sousuke? How much sleep did he get late night? Maybe he shouldn't go on morning drives anymore.

Sei stood up, pins and needles in his legs, and walked down the hall. He passed by multiple rooms, tanks full of their healthiest finds for the public to see, before pushing the big metal double doors of the recovery wing. Eventually, he made it to the back door, where their humble marina lay.

Sure enough, just as Seijuro walked outside, the boat Nitori and Sousuke had taken out this morning was pulling back into its spot on the dock.

And in the back, tails of multiple colors.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay look this chapter is short and rushed I honestly hate it but I pilent just leave a gap in the story, this was honestly my least fav part to figure out in the plot. 
> 
> Also, don't worry! You all didn't miss an intense fight sequence, it shall be revealed through flashbacks yes 
> 
> Can anyone guess who got away ;)))
> 
> Next chapter: Kisumi the sea witch


End file.
